Professor Dr. April Roslani is a Professor of Colorectal Surgery, and was Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Malaya from 2020 - 2024. She graduated from the University of Wales College of Medicine in 1995, and was awarded Universiti Malaya’s Master of Surgery in 2003. In 2007, she established University Malaya Medical Centre’s (UMMC) Colorectal Surgery Unit, which is now the largest in the country, and a key stakeholder in colorectal training and services nationally and regionally.

Her areas of expertise include surgery for colorectal cancer, proctology, surgical training and professionalism. She established the first Malaysian Cytoreductive Surgery (CRS) and Hyperthermic Intra-Peritoneal Chemotherapy (HIPEC) service in UMMC, which is delivered by a multi-disciplinary team.

Prof. April is an influential driver of postgraduate medical training nationally, regionally and internationally. She has chaired the Conjoint Committee for Postgraduate Medical Degrees, which oversees, aligns and coordinates medical specialist training programmes across all higher education providers in Malaysia. Recognizing the need to standardize training across institutions in order to meet the country’s need for healthcare specialists, she led the development of a new national training curriculum for general surgery under the National Postgraduate Curriculum Project. As chair of the Train-the-Trainers Steering Committee, she led the development of a blended curriculum for train-the-trainers modules, which has been rolled out across all specialties, nationally. She has advocated against toxic workplace environments, generating the evidence base and incorporating training modules in both trainee and trainer curricula.

Her leadership credentials are undisputed. Until recently, she was Regional Ambassador for the Association of Academic Health Centers International, and hosted the ASEAN Medical Deans Summit in 2023. She is a Councillor in the International Surgical Society, which champions outreach educational activities to improve access to surgical services globally, and was part of the team that successfully ran the International Surgical Week 2024 in Malaysia for the first time. She was Chair of the Steering Committee for the National Postgraduate Medical Curriculum Project. From a regulatory perspective, she leads the Malaysian Medical Council’s Specialty Subcommittee (Education) for General Surgery, which set the standards for recognition of training programmes, and she regularly evaluates programmes for accreditation by the Malaysian Qualifications Agency. She is the immediate Past-President for the Malaysian Society of Colorectal Surgeons, the College of Surgeons, Academy of Medicine of Malaysia and the Asia Pacific Federation of Coloproctology.

Through these and other related roles, she works towards advancing surgical standards, and fairness in the workplace. Her work has been recognized by the international surgical fraternity, through numerous Honorary Fellowship awards, including most recently from the Royal College of Surgeons of England, and the American Surgical Association.